Artichokes are such a delicious vegetable, but take forever to make via stovetop. Here you’ll learn how to make artichokes in an Instant Pot which cuts the time down by more than half (they take 10 minutes to cook in an Instant Pot), and the result is delicious Instant Pot artichokes you’ll make all artichoke season long!
Artichokes are one of those vegetables that I grew up eating, but that I hadn’t really thought about making on my own because they seemed like too much work. I remember them taking forever (an hour plus) to cook and the end result being kind of underwhelming. Then I got 3 big beautiful whole artichokes in one of my Misfits Market boxes (imperfect produce and organic grocery delivery – you can read my Misfits Market review here) and decided to figure out an easy way to cook artichokes.
The Instant Pot is the perfect way to cook artichokes vs. steaming them stovetop because it takes a fraction of the time! To make artichokes in the instant pot, the first step is to clean them. You clean artichokes by:
- Cut off tips of the leaves with a pair of kitchen scissors. You want to remove the tips because they have little thorns at the end of the leaves.
- Cut off the top of the artichoke using a sharp knife, cut off the top 3/4-1 inch of the artichoke
- Remove any small leaves on the stem. They don’t have any artichoke ‘meat’ or edible part on them.
- Remove excess stem. You want about 1-1 1/2 inches of artichoke stem, beyond that it’s very bitter.
Here is a great resource/post containing video on how to cook and eat an artichoke.
When your artichokes are cleaned, you’ll prepare the Instant Pot for the artichokes. You’ll add water and aromatics. A super cool trick/flavor booster for cooking artichokes I’ve found is to add pickling spice to the liquid they cook in!! Alternatively, you could add bay leaves and whole peppercorns. Pickling spice really amps up the flavor though so I’d recommend it.
- This pickling spice is one a chef told me they use one, and I’ve been using it since with success
- For aromatics the artichokes will cook in, I also add a garlic clove, shallot (or red onion) and a lemon
After the artichokes are done cooking (only 10-15 minutes in the Instant Pot, you know when they’re done by the stem being easy to cut), you can serve them. Artichoke dipping sauces:
- Butter + lemon juice
- Mayonnaise + lemon juice + garlic salt
Next time you come across a whole fresh artichoke, I’d highly recommend purchasing it and making these Instant Pot artichokes.
Instant Pot Artichokes
Ingredients
- 3 medium-large artichokes cleaned, leave tips cut off, tip cut off, stem trimmed
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tbs pickling spice alternatively use 2 bay leaves, and 1 tbs whole peppercorns
- 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove cut in half
- 1 large shallot quartered, or 1/2 small onion
Instructions
- Clean artichokes. Rinse under water, cut leaf tips off, remove top 3/4-1 inch of artichoke, remove any excess small leaves, cut stem.
- In an Instant Pot add trivet (optional) and pour in water and add aromatics (pickling spice, lemon, garlic, shallot).
- Add cleaned artichokes, stem up, into Instant Pot
- Secure lid into sealing position
- Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Turn knob to 'venting' when the timer goes off and perform a quick release. Check artichokes for doneness by poking a knife into the stem, if it easily cuts, the artichokes are done. If not, secure the lid again and cook for an additional 5 minutes (cook time depends on how big the artichokes are.)
- Remove artichokes with tongs (they will be hot) put on a plate and serve.
Notes
- Butter + lemon juice
- Mayonnaise + lemon juice + garlic salt
Nutrition
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